Archaeological forgery is the manufacture of supposedly ancient items that are sold to the antiquities market and may even end up in the collections of museums. A string of archeological forgeries have usually followed news of prominent archaeological excavations. Historically, famous excavations like those in Crete, Valley of the Kings in Egypt and Pompeii have caused the appearance of a number of forgeries supposedly spirited away from the dig. Those have been usually presented in the open market but some have also ended up in museum collections and as objects of serious historical study. In recent times, forgeries of pre-Columbian pottery from the South America have been very common. Other popular examples include Ancient Egyptian earthenware and supposed ancient Greek gold.
Most of the archaeological forgery is made for money. The monetary value of an item that is thought to be thousands of years old is higher than the similar one sold as a souvenir. However, archaeological or paleontological forgers may have other motives; they may try to manufacture proof for their point of view, favorite theory or to gain increased frame and prestige for themselves. It may be used to create proof for religious history. Many known techniques used to detect forgeries require destroying a sample of the artifact. It would be desirable, therefore, for a method to be able to test for a forgery, without destroying part of the artifact if it does indeed turn out to be authentic.